Treno della Barca

The high quality of the composition and the attention to detail, also set in a ‘people’s’ context, prompted the administration to include also this long building outside the city centre in the list of porticoes entered in the World Heritage List.
The Barca neighbourhood was designed by a group of professionals coordinated by Giuseppe Vaccaro, an architect of Bologna origin and previously the designer of the Faculty of Engineering building and various other works in the city. The building of what probably is the largest settlement in the city’s territory began in 1957 and went forward in several stages, from 1962 until the mid-1980s. Vaccaro was also responsible for the design of the “Treno”, a curved linear building in 553 metres long with a portico on the ground floor and two floors for residential use. The “Treno”, which takes its name from its distinct appearance, was designed to be the supporting and central element of the neighbourhood. Strong identitary significance, tied to the essence of the Bologna genius loci and largely because of the construction of the portico at the base of the building, has been projected onto it.
The unusual configuration of this portico entails blocks placed at regular distances, in which business premises and accesses to the flats on the two upper floors are positioned. The designer's desire to liven up a frontage whose length would otherwise appear too uniform is evident in the pronounced overhang of the roof, while the intermediate body has a series of openings refined by sliding shutters.
The building was recently subjected to meticulous energy improvement work that did not alter its proportions and original characteristics.